ROSE REILLY knows Italy better than most Scots do. She skippered them to World Cup glory - but she reckons they will come a cropper at Hampden on Saturday.

Reilly swears coach Roberto Donadoni is a non-runner in the man-management stakes. After a string of fall-outs with his superstars, she insists he has dressing room like a war zone and hasn't a hope against Alex McLeish and Scotland United.

Reilly blazed a trail in women's football.

In the 1980s she won eight Serie A titles with AC Milan, earned two golden boots and led her naturalised country into the World Cup Final in 1983 when they beat the USA 3-1 in front of 90,000 people in Peking, now Beijing.

Now 52 and settled back in her native Stewarton with husband Norberto Peralta, an Argentine sports doctor, and seven-year-old daughter Meghan, she was was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame this week.

And last night she said: "There will be no split loyalties from me. I'm all for Scotland.

"It's a good time for Scotland to move forward. Italy are the world champions and have had their turn, it's now time for Scotland.

"The big difference is the two coaches. Alex is a good man-manager - Donadoni isn't. e's had fall-outs with high-profile players in the team which is never good.

"Francesco Totti and Alesandro Del Piero won't play, which says a lot. They say Del Piero is too old - well we would take the pair of them.

"Donadoni was an excellent player but that doesn't mean he's a good coach, especially when he is fighting with big stars.

"All of Scotland is behind Alex which isn't the case in Italy. Hardly anyone I speak with in Italy rates Donadoni - they see him as the weakest link."

Reilly admits the Daily Record put her on the road to glory 35 years ago.

Desperate to find a club, she walked into our former HQ at Anderston Quay, Glasgow, and asked to speak with the then sports editor, the late Jack Adams.

She said: "I'd already played 10 games for Scotland and I told Jack 'I want to be a professional footballer'.

"He looked at me as if I was crazy but he looked into it and found there was a pro team in Reims. They flew me over to France for a trial and I got signed straight away. I came back to collect my things in a suitcase and told my mum and dad 'I'm off'. I was 17 and a half.

"I played for Stade de Reims for six months then a scout for AC Milan spotted me. That's when my career in Italy started.

"I was at Milan for two years, then went to Catana, Lecce, Napoli, Fiornetina and the national side.

"The moves were all about money, not that any player saw much of it. We didn't even have much of a say in the moves. We just went where we were told."

Women's football is the fastest-growing sport in Scotland and both sides of the Old Firm now have teams.

But even Arsenal star Julie Fleeting, with 100 goals and 100 caps, would be hard pushed to match the achievements of Scotland's only World Cup winner.

Reilly said: "I'm used to getting my awards in Italy because that's where my career was. I didn't expect to be recognised here in Scotland.

"So it was a proud moment to be accepted into the the Hall of Fame and I hope I've opened the door for more female footballers."

Reilly looked back on her career and revealed how she punctured the ego of a then rising Italian star.

She said: "I was a playing in a five-a-side game and a young Lorenzo Amoruso was up against me. I think he was 16 and playing for Bari reserves.

"I nutmegged him and he whacked me up in the air and on to a concrete surface. The crowd were right on him - he was really hot-headed.

"He was having a fight with the crowd, the other players and me. He was only young but was massive back then."

Reilly coached for a spell but is no longer in football.

She said: "I'm a mammy now and have never been more exhausted. Training for five hours in the heat was easier."